Vampire Grave Unearthed!

Vampire Grave Discovered in Bulgaria

Bulgarian archaeologists have found a 700 year old grave of a man buried with an “iron stick” in his chest. The Sofia News Agency reports that the man “was stabbed multiple times in the chest and the stomach, as his contemporaries feared that he would raise from the dead as a vampire.”

The story goes on to say that the “grave was discovered near the apse of a church, which suggests that he was an aristocrat,” and that the man was probably some kind of intellectual, because Bulgarians hate smart people.

At least Sozopol has that to brag about, because Lord knows there can’t be many more vampire graves in Bulgaria, right?

Over 100 buried people whose corpses were stabbed to prevent them from becoming vampires have been discovered across Bulgaria over the years, according to Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the Bulgarian National History Museum.

On Sunday, local media reported that two Middle Age “vampires” had been discovered by archaeologists in the Black Sea town of Sozopol. Big iron sticks with which the two men’s bodies had been stabbed were found in their graves.

“I do not know why an ordinary discovery like that became so popular. Perhaps because of the mysteriousness of the word “vampire,” Dimitrov has commented, as cited by Sega.

“These people were believed to be evil while they were alive, and it was believed that they would become vampires once they are dead, continuing to torment people,” he has explained.

Once these people were buried, they were symbolically pushed down with massive iron sticks.

According to Dimitrov, the “vampires” in question were most frequently aristocrats and clerics.

“The curious thing is that there are no women among them. They were not afraid of witches,” he has added.

Please, someone tell me they didn’t take the stakes out of the bodies. They must have seen at least one Hammer vampire movie, right?

Thomas L. McDonald writes about technology, theology, history, games, and shiny things. Details of his rather uneventful life as a professional writer and magazine editor can be found in the About tab.